This whole spat between Disney and Google is really screwing up my enjoyment of this season. At the time of writing this no agreement has been made and YouTube TV subscribers like yours truly have missed
out on at least one full weekend of college and NFL football. It’s annoying to be sure, I would have loved to watch Vanderbilt at Texas or SMU’s upset over Miami, but at the very least there are plenty of networks covering games so there was always something on. That doesn’t completely smooth over just how much it sucks to be caught in the middle of a pissing match between two of the largest corporations on the planet fighting over who gets to take more out of my bank account each month. Turns out, the answer is probably going to end up being both of them.
These carriage disputes are nothing new. For years cable and satellite providers faced this issue ahead of football season time and time again. But when streaming came along it seemed like it might be possible to break the cycle. But if Disney and Google’s current fight has proven anything it’s that things have only gotten worse. Now you have two inconceivably wealthy companies trying to portray themselves as the underdog fighting against the greed of the other. To see ESPN’s own PR account post this to Twitter is downright laughable.
Yes, how dare that mean old Google use its tremendous market dominance to cut out an scrappy upstart network like…the Walt Disney Company.
This dispute is not going to hurt either company no matter how much spin they try to put on it. The victim here is us, both now and whenever this whole thing gets resolved. Because you can bet that no matter how this ends, the cost of a YTTV or ESPN subscription is going to go up at a time when everything else is too. Disney and Google simply care about the already stretched-to-breaking dollar in your pocket and how they can get it to stretch just a little bit more in their direction. That’s what pisses me off more than missing out on a few games.
Friday, November 7
Saturday, November 8 – Morning / Afternoon
We got the first CFP top 25 poll on Tuesday and week 11 presents some impactful games with those teams featured. Right off the bat we get what could be a preview of the Big XII championship with #7 BYU at #8 Texas Tech. The initial poll has the Big XII looking at the possibility of getting two teams into the playoff, and if this is indeed a sneak peak at the championship game it will have a huge impact on whether or not that happens. Indiana retains their #2 ranking from the AP poll and will travel to Penn State. The Hoosiers have never won in Happy Valley but they’ve never had a chance like this before.
In the afternoon we get #3 Texas A&M at #22 Missouri at #9 Oregon at #20 Iowa. The Hawkeyes are finally ranked after arguably being snubbed by the sportswriters but now they’ll have to back it up in one of the biggest games in Kinnick in years.
Iowa State will try to stop their 4-game slide against TCU. It’s truly incredible how sharply the Cyclones’ season turned after reaching as high as 14th in week 6. Meanwhile #23 Washington has finally cracked the national rankings as well after a slow, steady climb all season long. They’ll travel to Madison to meet the Badgers at 2:30 to continue their climb. Probably.
Saturday, November 8 – Evening
It’s not a nationally relevant game as far as playoff positioning goes, but I’ll be morbidly curious to see Florida State at Clemson duke it out for the mantle of Miss Most Disappointing ACC Team 2025. The Seminoles stopped their losing streak against Wake Forest last week while Clemson lost to Duke at home for the first time in 45 years. I’ve always found it interesting to watch a game with two national brands going through rough times. The stakes are low but you’ll still get one side continuing to wallow in their misery.
I’m also very interested to see Nebraska at UCLA and how the Huskers do without Dylan Raiola. The Nebraska quarterback suffered a broken fibula after a gruesome tackle against USC. Now the Huskers face a trip to the west coast which always go over well for Midwest teams, and we’ll get our first chance at seeing how they’ll fare without their starter under center.
Which games are you watching this week, or not if you’re a YouTube TV subscriber?
